The Chicago White Sox have announced the major-league coaching staff under second-year manager Pedro Grifol for the 2024 season:
· Bench Coach: Charlie Montoyo
· Pitching Coach: Ethan Katz
· Assistant Pitching Coach: Matt Wise
· Hitting Coach: Marcus Thames
· Assistant Hitting Coach: Mike Tosar
· First Base/Outfield Coach: Jason Bourgeois
· Third Base/Infield Coach: Eddie Rodríguez
· Catching Coach: Drew Butera
· Major League Coach: Grady Sizemore
Wise, Thames, Bourgeois, Butera and Sizemore are new to the organization, while Montoyo, Katz, Tosar and Rodríguez return to the staff in 2024.
Wise, 47, spent the last three seasons as the pitching coach for the Los Angeles Angels. After serving as the Angels bullpen coach in 2020, he began the 2021 season as interim pitching coach before taking over the position on a full-time basis in late May of that season.
During his tenure, the Angels ranked sixth in the American League with a 3.77 ERA in 2022. Shohei Ohtani went 34–16 with a 2.84 ERA (135 ER/428.1 IP) and 542 strikeouts in 74 starts from 2021–23. Wise also oversaw the development of starting pitchers Griffin Canning, Reid Detmers, Patrick Sandoval, Chase Silseth and José Suarez. Prior to joining the major-league coaching staff, Wise spent eight seasons in the Angels player development system, including 2018–19 as the minor-league pitching coordinator. He and Katz both worked in the Angels system from 2013–15.
Wise appeared in 209 games (18 starts) over parts of eight seasons in the major leagues with the Angels (2000–02), Milwaukee (2004–07) and New York Mets (2008), going 17–22 with a 4.23 ERA (149 ER/317.0 IP) and 41 holds. He was a member of the Angels 2002 World Series championship club.
Thames, 47, enters his first season as the White Sox hitting coach after serving in the same capacity with the Angels in 2023. The Angels ranked among the American League leaders last season in home runs (3rd, 231), slugging percentage (5th, .426), OPS (7th, .743), walks (7th, 548) and extra-base hits (T7th, 505). Shohei Ohtani led the AL in home runs (44), on-base percentage (.412), slugging percentage (.654) and OPS (1.066).
Thames worked as the hitting coach for the Miami Marlins in 2022, and for the Yankees from 2018–21. He also served as the Yankees’ assistant hitting coach from 2016–17. During his tenure in New York, DJ LeMahieu won a batting title (2020), Luke Voit led baseball in home runs (2020), and Yankees hitters set a club record with 306 home runs in 2019, the third-highest total in baseball history. From 2016–21, the Yankees ranked among the MLB leaders in home runs (1st, 1,313), slugging percentage (T3rd, .441), walks (3rd, 3,157), runs scored (4th, 4,358), OPS (4th, .771), on-base percentage (6th, .330), times on base (6th, 10,914) and average (8th, .253).
Thames appeared in 640 career games over 10 major-league seasons with the Yankees (2002, ’10), Texas (2003), Detroit (2005–09) and the Dodgers (2011). He homered in his first career at-bat off Hall-of-Famer Randy Johnson on June 10, 2002 vs. Arizona.
Bourgeois, 41, has spent the last five seasons in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization serving as the outfield and baserunning coordinator from 2021–23. Dodgers prospect Taylor Young stole 56 bases in 61 attempts (91.8 success rate) in 2023, tied for the ninth-most steals in the minors. Bourgeois was slated to be on the coaching staff for Class High A Rancho Cucamonga in 2020 before the minor-league season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, he was a coach for Class A Great Lakes, which posted a 81–55 (.596) overall record and reached the Midwest League playoffs.
A Houston native, Bourgeois played in 317 major-league games over parts of eight seasons with the White Sox (2008), Milwaukee (2009), Houston (2010–11), Kansas City (2012), Tampa Bay (2013) and Cincinnati (2014–15), hitting .253 (179–708) with 20 doubles, seven triples, six home runs, 44 RBI, 54 stolen bases and 97 runs scored.
Butera, 40, is a former major-league catcher who was a member of the Angels coaching staff in 2022–23. He served as the Angels catching coordinator last season and as a bullpen catcher in 2022. Angels catchers recorded the third-best fielding percentage (.997) in baseball last season.
Butera played parts of 12 seasons with Minnesota (2010–13), the Dodgers (2013–14), Angels (2015, ‘21), Kansas City (2015–18) and Colorado (2018–20), hitting .196 (262–1,337) with 19 home runs and 123 RBI. He caught two no-hitters during his career: Francisco Liriano’s on May 3, 2011 at the White Sox and Josh Beckett’s on May 25, 2014 at Philadelphia. Butera, the son of former MLB catcher Sal Butera, was a member of the 2015 World Series Champion Royals.
Sizemore, 41, enters his first season on a big-league coaching staff as a White Sox major-league coach. He served as a coach for the Arizona Complex League Diamondbacks in 2022, his second professional assignment after working in Cleveland’s player development system in 2017.
Sizemore was a career .265 hitter (1,098–4,417) with 150 home runs and 518 RBI in 1,101 major-league games over 10 seasons with Cleveland (2004–11), Boston (2014), Philadelphia (2014–15) and Tampa Bay (2015). He was a three-time All-Star (2006–08), two-time Gold Glove honoree (2007–08) and a Silver Slugger Award winner (2008), all with Cleveland.
Montoyo, 58, enters his second season as the White Sox bench coach following a four-season stint (2019–22) as the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Katz, 40, returns for his fourth season as White Sox pitching coach. In three seasons under his direction, the Sox lead all American League teams with an average of 9.47 strikeouts per 9.0 IP and rank sixth with a .240 opponents average.
Tosar, 54, enters his second season on the White Sox coaching staff and first as assistant hitting coach. He served as the Sox major-league field coordinator last season following three seasons (2020–22) as a special assignment hitting coach in the Kansas City organization.
Rodríguez, 64, begins his second season as the White Sox third-base coach after spending three seasons (2020–22) as Kansas City’s minor-league field coordinator. He has 40-plus years of professional coaching experience.has context menu
White Sox Announce Major-League Coaching Staff for 2024 Season was originally published in Inside the White Sox on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.